Demand In Thailand Cause Of African Elephant Poaching

[webfact]

Demand in Thailand 'cause of African elephant poaching'
Noppatjak Attanon
The Nation
Cameroon


Savannah elephants in the Bouba Ndjida National Park

CAMEROON: -- More than 500 soldiers have been working hard in the Bouba Ndjida National Park on a mission to end a bloody business - elephant poaching. And though this operation is taking place thousands of miles away, it is very much related to the ivory trade in Thailand.

In February last year, poachers slaughtered more than 300 elephants in the national park for ivory and if this illegal hunting is not stopped, this species will most definitely disappear.

The authorities in Cameroon believe that the reason behind this poaching is Thailand - where ivory trade is legal. As per Thai law, the sale of tusks from domesticated elephants is allowed.

However, now that international pressure is rising, Thailand has recently pledged to take strict action against shops that sell smuggled ivory.

"We hope Thailand is aware of the problem because demand of ivory there is affecting us," Colonel Bouba Dobekreo, chief of Bouba Ndjida BIR, said.

The massacre of 300 elephants last February was the final straw for the Cameroon government, and even though it is four times poorer than Thailand, the country has already spent millions of dollars on protecting their elephants.

Since November, it has even deployed the Batallion d'Intervention Rapide (BIR or Rapid Intervention Battalion) at the Bouba Ndjida National Park.

In the park, several groups of a dozen soldiers go on 10-day long patrol treks. Helicopter patrols are also done twice a week. The Bouba Ndjida National Park covers approximately 11,000 square kilometres.

The soldiers are not just armed with guns and weapons, but also have modern technology like GPRS and satellite signals to gather information on the movement of elephants.

Since the BIR sprang into action, not a single elephant has been killed at the national park.

However, local resident Paul Bore, who witnessed up to 300 elephants being killed in the area last year, said he was not very optimistic about the operation or it having any long-term results.

"In my lifetime, I have seen villagers, soldiers and even poachers being killed due to elephant poaching. I believe there are only two ways to stop elephant poaching: the first is to stop the demand, and the second is to let all the elephants die. In the end, I hope we make the right choice," he said.

Colonel Dobekreo has also called on Thais to stop purchasing ivory products.

"Ivory trade is illegal in Cameroon, but still each and every elephant is under threat of slaughter, which is triggered by demand for ivory elsewhere," he said.

WWF has already called on citizens of Central Africa to sign a petition requesting Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to change the law and ban ivory trade.

Central African Republic: The number of elephants has dropped from 80,000 about 30 years ago to a few thousand today.

Democratic Republic of Congo: The number of elephants has dropped from over 100,000 about 20 years ago to between 7,000 and 10,000,

Republic of Congo: The elephant population has dropped by 50 per cent over the past decade.

Gabon: Despite having Africa's largest wild elephant population, it's parks now average at one elephant per kilometre, down from up to four pachyderms per kilometre less than a decade ago.

Source: WWF Central Africa


-- The Nation 2013-03-02

[webfact]

Thai tourist industry 'driving' elephant smuggling

by Amelie Bottollier-Depois

BANGKOK, March 2, 2013 (AFP) - Smuggling the world's largest land animal across an international border sounds like a mammoth undertaking, but activists say that does not stop traffickers supplying Asian elephants to Thai tourist attractions.

Unlike their heavily-poached African cousins -- whose plight is set to dominate Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) talks in Bangkok next week -- Asian elephants do not often make the headlines.

But the species is also under threat, as networks operate a rapacious trade in wild elephants to meet the demands of Thailand's tourist industry.

Camps and zoos featuring elephants tightrope walking, playing football or performing in painting contests employ almost 4,000 domesticated elephants for the amusement of tourists.

Conservation activists accuse the industry of using illicitly-acquired animals to supplement its legal supply, with wild elephants caught in Myanmar and sold across the border into one of around 150 camps.

"Even the so-called rescue charities are trying to buy elephants," said John Roberts of the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation.

Domestic elephants in Thailand -- where the pachyderm is a national symbol -- have been employed en masse in the tourist trade since they found themselves unemployed in 1989 when logging was banned.

Just 2,000 of the animals remain in the wild.

Prices have exploded with elephants now commanding between 500,000 and two million baht ($17,000 to $67,000) per baby, estimates suggest.

The number of baby elephants "coming into the system" is far higher than would be possible "from actual breeding", said Roberts, whose group decided to stop buying elephants seven years ago and now has 26 residents.

"I cannot see a way to buy an elephant which doesn't cause another elephant to be smuggled," he added.

Between 50 and 100 wild baby or young female elephants are sold from Myanmar each year, according to estimates by British charity Elephant Family.

The group's head of conservation, Dan Bucknell, told AFP that while some trafficked elephants may be taken elsewhere, the majority enter the Thai market.

"Thailand is certainly a hub," he said.

Smuggling such a large mammal should in theory require elaborate planning to avoid the police but in reality traffickers just "do it over a normal road", said wildlife trade researcher Vincent Nijman of Oxford Brookes university.

"Elephants can be in a truck or even walk" across the Thai border in front of complicit customs officers and border guards, he said.

Demand is not only threatening the 4,000 to 5,000 wild elephants in Myanmar, but is also hitting populations in Thailand's other neighbour Laos.

Young domestic elephants are exported across the border, furthering the decline of a population of around 480 animals, said Gilles Maurer of the group ElephantAsia.

Laos, known as the "land of a million elephants", only has between 300 and 500 wild pachyderms left and Maurer said that as the domestic population shrinks, "there is a strong risk" that poachers will turn to them.

Last year Thai authorities conducted several raids on elephant camps and seized some 25 animals -- 19 remain under their protection.

"It is likely the 19 seized elephants were smuggled wild animals as their paperwork did not match up," said forest ranger Pradung Jitraon, of Thailand's National Parks department, who participated in the operation.

Activists have welcomed the initiative but are also calling for broader reforms. "The system now is so weak," said Petch Manopawitr of the World Wildlife Fund in Thailand.

Thailand needs "more control, more transparent monitoring of the population, of what they do in terms of new born elephants", he said, calling for a proper database of elephants, using DNA testing or microchips.

Such a system, he added, would allow foreigners to visit elephant camps safe in the knowledge they are not "harming or threatening the wild population".

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2013-03-02

[Pimay1]

Is there anything bad that happens in this country that we don't get blamed for?

[JetsetBkk]

Smuggling the world's largest land animal across an international border sounds like a mammoth undertaking...

Is that supposed to be funny?

[MILT]

Smuggling the world's largest land animal across an international border sounds like a mammoth undertaking...

Is that supposed to be funny?

I thought it was!

[JetsetBkk]

Smuggling the world's largest land animal across an international border sounds like a mammoth undertaking...

Is that supposed to be funny?

I thought it was!

I might have too if I hadn't recently seen a programme about herds of African elephants being machine gunned to death for their tusks.

[MILT]

While I cannot comment on some of the information in this article I can when comes to elephant camps and buying illegal elephants for the tourist trade. It's a crock of crap period! Certain NGO's here in Thailand started this vicious rumor and even have gone as far as hire investigative journalist to shape a story that is (and they know it) not accurate. The picture being painted by NGO's and foreigners that support these so-called NGO's create a inaccurate picture of Thailand. Thai people love elephants, mahout's love their elephants these are the facts.

Here are the facts folks. Most if not all elephant camps hire or buy elephants from local villages or go to Surin, not to mention a healthy breeding programs and one camp near Chiangmai have a lic. Elephant hospital and a Lic. Vet that care for hundreds of elephants for free. No NGO scams or stories supporting this hospital. The owners and elephants of this camp support the hospital. You absolutely cannot force and elephant to paint. most if not all elephant trainers use the reward technique to achieve the desired result. I've personally have gone to a well known NGO near Chiangmai because I was told that this place does not use chains. So I went to see for myself in the evening (and well next time I will have my camera) every elephant had chains on their legs and were tethered so they would not walk off. So you see this subject is important but with all the in accurate BS that is out their and even going viral with edited and chopped of video footage of elephant being put in harms way. I agree stop[ the killing of elephants in Africa, Stop using Thailand as a hub to sell Ivory, but most of all start reporting accurate information when it comes to elephant camps. These elephant camps are truly helping to save the Thai elephant and the mahout's way of life.

[Payboy]

"Thailand is certainly a hub," he said.

Hubba Hubba

[wealth]

Across Africa, elephants are being slaughtered by poachers in record numbers
-- and their tusks hacked off with chainsaws -- to make luxury items,
statues and trinkets in Asia. But in days, Thailand will host a key global summit on illegal trade in endangered species, giving us a rare chance to stop this futile massacre.

Thailand is the world’s largest unregulated ivory market and a top driver of the illegal trade.They’ve
been in the hot seat for years, yet so far little has been done to
clamp down on their role in the elephant attack. But Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has just announced that she is considering a full ivory ban. That's why we started a global petition on the Avaaz site, to give this campaign the last push it needs to win.


This is the best chance we’ve had in years to have a meaningful victory for Africa’s elephants -- we just need to put people power behind it. Join me now to stop the bloody ivory trade. Sign the urgent petition and share it with everyone.

- Leonardo DiCaprio

Almost 700 000 signatures now

http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_elephants/?fp

[JetsetBkk]

"Thailand is certainly a hub," he said.

Hubba Hubba

Do you really want to see it again?

[JetsetBkk]

Across Africa, elephants are being slaughtered by poachers in record numbers

-- and their tusks hacked off with chainsaws -- to make luxury items,

statues and trinkets in Asia. But in days, Thailand will host a key global summit on illegal trade in endangered species, giving us a rare chance to stop this futile massacre.

Thailand is the world’s largest unregulated ivory market and a top driver of the illegal trade.They’ve

been in the hot seat for years, yet so far little has been done to

clamp down on their role in the elephant attack. But Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has just announced that she is considering a full ivory ban. That's why we started a global petition on the Avaaz site, to give this campaign the last push it needs to win.


This is the best chance we’ve had in years to have a meaningful victory for Africa’s elephants -- we just need to put people power behind it. Join me now to stop the bloody ivory trade. Sign the urgent petition and share it with everyone.

- Leonardo DiCaprio

Almost 700 000 signatures now

http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_elephants/?fp

I just signed up and caught my name scrolling down the list. There are signatures being added every couple of seconds!

What are going to do, Ms. Shinawatra?

[bigbamboo]

Thailand has a worldwide reputation for so many bad things...... prostitution, human trafficking, political corruption, IP theft etc., etc.......... here's a chance to do something the country can be proud of and cut out this disgusting business of ivory trading once and for all.

Come on Yingluck, here's a golden opportunity to make some real merit.

Edited March 2, 2013 by bigbamboo

[HUAHIN62]

I am from Africa and love nature. The African elephants must be treasured, but the ban on the trade isn't working. In 1989 it was estimated that there was 600 000 left, today there is only 450 000. Most of these elephants (150 000) are in Botswana, with another 150 000 in the rest of southern Africa. Elephants consume huge volumes of food every day and can have a devastating effect on the environment if their numbers increase too much. There are areas in Botswana and South Africa where they have destroyed vegetation. In the past when elephant numbers increased too much they where either resettled/sold or culled. When they where sold or culled the ivory was sold and the money used for conservation/anti-poaching. Unfortunately there are limited areas for resettlement and with the ban on ivory sales, little money are generated to enhance anti-poaching efforts. At present the countries that take care of their elephants are penalised due to other countries neglecting their duties. The ban has pushed up the ivory price which is spurring on more poaching (much the same effect as with drugs). They should micro chip elephant tusks thats legal (natural death or legal culling by conservation authorities), any tusk without an approved chip would be illegal. The chipping could be managed by CITES to avoid fraud.

Interesting to note that the New York Times ran an article yesterday in which China is blamed for the illegal ivory trade in the world, not a word on Thailand as the hub of ivory trade?

[clockman]

When you talk of China, its the same as talking about Thailand. Because the conection is there. Sino Thai people control what happens in Thailand!